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28 June 2016

Royal Wedding of the Day: June 28

June 19th was King Carl Gustaf and Queen Silvia's 40th wedding anniversary! (It was also Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel's 6th wedding anniversary.) The couple met at the 1972 Olympics and four years later, Silvia went straight from commoner to queen. Let's take a look back:

Lennart Nilsson

Silvia wore a wedding gown by Marc Bohan for Christian Dior, an almost starkly simple design in silk duchesse, previously covered in depth here. The lack of embellishment on the gown allowed the Cameo Tiara to take center stage, but it might also have allowed some unexpected things to take the center stage too: the fold at the top of the family's historic veil (said to have been a solution concocted when the veil turned out to be longer than the train), or the tissue strapped to her wrist by a rubber band (a precaution insisted upon by her mother, which ended up showing from underneath her sleeve every time she waved).

It's far from my favorite royal wedding gown, but I'll be interested to see what those of you that see it in person think (remember, it will be going on display starting in late October in Stockholm). Perhaps the real fantastic elements here will be better appreciated when seen in close up. I'm getting that feel from the interesting seaming hinted at by the close up below, anyway.

Of course, a royal wedding gown also must be seen in movement to be fully appreciated and of course I have you covered there too; see below or check out another video here. Silvia's gown does seem more stately in the right context than it does in random pictures.

Fair warning, there's an immediate difference between that video and videos from more recent Swedish royal weddings: no tiaras! Apart from the Cameo Tiara for Silvia, obviously. Unlike the sparkling weddings the family throws today with guests in white tie and tiaras, Silvia and Carl Gustaf's guests wore morning dress or uniform for the gentlemen and long dresses with hats for the ladies. (Thank heavens they've come to their senses in the years since.)